As many of you have seen, the AREDN.org website has been down since Saturday morning.

Conrad, KG6JEI, my original partner in developing the later BBHN releases and eventually launching AREDN, has shut the site down and is asking $25,000 to restore it. Over the past year or more Conrad has contributed little to the project’s progress. The team has felt hamstrung to provide fixes and new features as a result of the arduous requirements Conrad forced on us through the change management system over which he had sole control. As an example, the community hasn’t seen a significant release since 2016, while code changes have routinely been submitted, they have never gained Conrad’s final approval.

Seeing the need for a more formal organizational structure and to set in place governance over matters such as these, the team established a non-profit corporation and set out to collect the branding and trademark properties we had accumulated over the years as individuals. Randy contributed the AREDN Logo and website, I, being the first person to write our project’s name in its final form, contributed the “Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network” name and “At the Center of Emergency Preparedness” slogan, Darryl a new AREDNMesh.org domain, etc. When we went to collect the AREDN.org domain from Conrad, he refused.

We understand strongly held and passionately argued points of view, but a successful team is one where civil discourse prevails and compromises for the greater good can be easily reached. Conrad's behavior has shown us that he does not believe these things.

This is not easy for any of us… particularly me. Conrad and I have been partners in this endeavor for nearly 5 years. I know it is also not easy for you. But I can assure you, that our new organizational structure will address these issues and leave no one individual in control of our software development and operational infrastructure. We have moved our development repository to GitHub from the autocratic system we have been using. As a result, we are already seeing new software contributors coming on board.

We fully intend to support the AREDN brand and community and we are taking steps to ensure long-term continuity.

I thank you for your patience and ask that you bear with us and to use the AREDNMesh.org web site going forward. We recognize the time and money the AREDN community has invested in infrastructure. I want to assure you that, like you, we are in it for the long haul.